Porter Goss: “I rise in support of this good open rule. But I must say to my colleagues that I am perplexed that we are bringing this…”

“I rise in support of this good open rule. But I must say to my colleagues that I am perplexed that we are bringing this pleasure to the floor. I, of course, do have enormous respect for Chairman Shuster and his colleagues on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure who believe they are doing the right thing for the transportation infrastructure of our Nation with this bill. But I and others cannot agree with their conclusion because of our commitment to the higher goal of controlling Government spending. Mr. Speaker, 2 days ago Americans were reminded in an extremely personal way of the extent to which Government feeds upon our families' budgets. Americans are working several hours each day just to fulfill their overall tax burdens now, and yet the Federal Government still cannot make ends meet. Despite concerted efforts to shrink Government spending, we remain nearly $5.5 trillion in debt. That is trillion. Given the fact that we spend over $200 billion every year just in interest to service that debt, it is obviously incumbent upon us to handle with care the process by which we consider and make all our spending decisions, and that is why I cannot support the bill before us today.”